Geovisual Mapping Laboratory

Our geovisual mapping laboratory (GML) was officially established in 2012 when the advanced geospatial laboratory and cartography lab combined to further ongoing research in the field of GIS and cartography beyond the classroom environment. This facility has grown in size and processing ability since then with the addition of a dedicated GIS server, multiple 2D and 3D workstations, a large format plotter/scanner and a newly created geovisualization room capable of producing three dimensional GIS maps, 3D animations and holographic images. Software used in this lab includes: Intergraph’s GeoMedia Suite, ESRI’s ArcGIS Suite, Trimble Sketchup, AutoCAD, ERDAS Imagine, Adobe Illustrator and MS Office Suite.

The primary focus at GML is GIS, geovisualization and cartographic research and development. This includes new ways to convert existing vector data from a static environment to a GIS. In addition, research relating to the fields of NES, meteorology, biogeography, urban planning and 3D has been developed as well. Campus projects that help the “university community” such as the Campus Webmap and Huskie Tracks GPS were developed in this lab with the help of students and staff. These types of research projects help students keep current with "real world" issues relating to the field of GIS.

To date we have had more than 250 students from the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Business, Health and Human Services, Engineering and Technology and Education work on various research projects within this lab. This lab is a non-for-profit research facility that is student based and is under the directorship of Philip Young.